A writing retreat? Or a vacation? No matter what you call it, I’m in the Great Smoky Mountains working on the book I’m writing – Girlfriends, God, and Grace. It’s really easy to see God in these surroundings – just the amazing majesty of these mountains takes my breath away. And grace? I live that every day.

I planned this trip so I could get away and just write. Trust me, I need it. Between planning a wedding with the princess bride, dog-sitting for Foxy Molly (the puppy pooping machine), chauffeuring Paige, the drama princess (not the bad kind of drama, the real theater kind of drama), working a regular job, planning our ladies retreats and occasionally running a dust rag across the furniture I was having a little trouble finding time to write. Now, don’t get me wrong — I love all my jobs…except the dusting (who in their right mind likes to dust) and puppy poop is never fun. But my busy schedule is the perfect excuse…I mean reason – I have to go to the mountains to write. Sounds a little stuffy, doesn’t it? I’m really not stuffy, I just love the mountains and it’s fun to write here.

So, Vaughn and I are up here in the mountains and there’s even a chance of snow—Yippee! It’s been a while since I’ve seen any decent snow and I would love it. We are high enough up to get a good bit (my idea of a good bit is anything more than three inches). We have food and will go out in the morning to forage—goodness knows we don’t want to get caught up in without food. Although, I’m almost certain that I could live off of body fat for several days.

Back to the reason, we’re here. I wrote for several hours today and loved it. Vaughn is studying God’s Word and preparing for a new Sunday school class that he’s leading. He also is my resident Bible scholar – I just say “hey, honey, where does it say we are a new creation” and he spouts off the answer. Very handy.

I just am awestruck that someone is actually paying me to do something that I love so much. Amazing stuff, this writing is. What did I write? I wrote about friendships and relationships. About how friendships fit into a busy life. I also wrote about mistakes I’ve made – I have lots of material for this mistake section. I wrote about jumping into situations and relationships I knew were wrong (anyone else?) But the most important part is that I wrote – I put my hands on the keys and I asked God for the words and He answered. His are the well-done sections, mine are the rambling, slightly off-target ones. He’s here in these mountains with me, but then He’s with me all times and in all ways. That’s what is so amazing about Christ. He’s with all of us and He loves us, even when we make those mistakes.

Check out these photos of our view

An amazing view from our deck!

The building in the middle of this picture is of the Park Vista — we are up Ski Mountain Rd, almost at the top.